Holtz Realty

Conspirators of Pleasure

Ouch! The weather sure turned cold all of a sudden. If it wasn’t for the wind, it would’ve been more tolerable, but those gusts coming from the north were enough to send anyone running for cover. At least we only had a dusting of snow this morning and I hope tonight’s snowfall isn’t going to be measurable enough to complain about.

While walking from my car to a cafe before noon, I couldn’t believe how quickly my glasses frosted over. Of course those big buildings in our Downtown do create some pretty nasty wind tunnels. In spite of it all, I did have a good lunch meeting with three dear ones. One always has to keep in touch with the lives of others just so we don’t become islands within ourselves.

While still working at yesterday’s offer on one of my listings, I found an offer had been emailed to me from an agent on another home I have listed. I couldn’t help but mention how the buyers this week have been weak with their offerings. I fully understand the concept of discounting, but to be so radical is ridiculous. There’ve been times when I’ve wanted to say to one of those agents, “If you think my seller is willing sell it at this price, I would’ve had it sold as soon as it came out of the gates.” I’m not so sure who’re the ones that are inciting such ideas about writing very low offers, but I wished they’d stop because it makes for hard feelings to be had all the way round.

One of the trans-plants from out of State stopped by for a few minutes this afternoon asking if it’s normal for Mason City to be so cold. I couldn’t help but tell her that this winter’s weather has been quite pleasant considering how much more cold and snow we’ve experienced in past years. I think what bothers her the most is the wind which is something everyone has to get used to. When living in the North Plains where there are miles of flatlands, there’s nothing that slows it down or protects against it. I did promise her that she’ll fully enjoy our summers because where she’s from, it gets blistering hot.

I’m still hoping for a good day tomorrow at my public open house at 115 S. Connecticut. If there’s but one interested party that comes out of it, I’ll consider it worthwhile time spent. I believe wintertime is the best part of the year to show off all those beautiful windows since the sun is low in the sky and able to reach farther into the home. I’ve decided to take some Christmas goodies over for my guests to enjoy.

While waiting for a client to arrive this afternoon, I read an article about small and even large groups of people who actively work at making the lives of others painful and sometimes unbearable. The name of the article was, “Conspirators of Pleasure” which I thought being catchy enough to investigate. Whenever we hear the word “pleasure” it is almost always taken to the sensually positive and sometimes even the sexual side, but in these times, it’s definitely not always the case.

Just think how many times you’ve been sucked into a conversation that was centered around a ring-leader’s ideas regarding the inflicting pain and suffering on another and laugh about it. Of course we all know that the more listeners there are, the more likely there’ll be a consensus.

I’ve known a few in my years who’ve done exactly that, and then create minions to go out and do their bidding for them, and when the leader of a given pack is challenged, there’s always a canned response being something like, “Oh I didn’t mean it like that.”, or “We were only having fun.”, or even, “I was only making conversation, and if somebody thought I really meant it, they’re the ones to blame.”

Yes, there are always those back-peddlings even in the business world. You certainly remember how in the old days all the many decisions being made in smoke-filled rooms. Believe me, those groups didn’t want the best for others, but rather to take all they could get for themselves and leave everyone else to suffer because it gave them pleasure to knowingly fill their pockets at the expense of their corporations and/or government bodies. It’s been that way for hundreds of years and likely not be changing any time soon. Do you remember my words regarding “meritocracy”? Well, that’s the one of the mindsets used in creating un-deserved pleasure.

What really gets me regarding these so-called “pleasures”, is that oft times those conspiracies are started not by grade school children, but aging adults. I’ve been around some pretty naughty monkeys in business over these years, and I can assure you that their desires do not diminish with age, but rather grow because they’ve learned all the more how to tweak their dark abilities. I believe the seed of bad behavior lives within all of us, but when we begin nurturing it, it grows into a painfully thorny vine that continues to reach out in all directions of the general public.

My soulful advice to everyone is to take heed if you ever find yourselves being pulled into a circle containing conspirators of pleasure. I believe if you understand what their motives are from the outset, you’ll be able to walk or run away more sooner than later.

The above photo is one out of another of those vintage photo packets. This one is of the Reichstag in Berlin before it was burned by one of Hitler’s Brown Shirts. Germany did rebuild it after its re-unification, but not exactly as it was originally designed. I didn’t realize that the Reichstag had just recently been completed before it was set afire. What a shame!

Tonight’s one-liner is: If we do not nurture the growth of our own integrities, we’ll then find them being strangled by poisonous roots having sprouted from the seeds of all seven deadly sins.

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